


Through all of my rambling, your smile still warmed my heart

by Lunarpilot



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Ice Skating, So so much fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Winter, bandorisecretsanta2018, funky little lesbians, look at them go, ran is a disaster lesbian, so is moca, they're not the best at communicating but they're getting there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 13:38:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,902
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17142743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarpilot/pseuds/Lunarpilot
Summary: After an invite from Roselia, the Afterglow girls chose to spend a snowy afternoon on the rink. Though, to Rans dismay, she never really learned how to skate...Alternate title suggested by a friend: "Can a red noodle learn how to ice skate?"Secret santa gift for twitter user @/hy_polaris ! Merry Christmas!





	Through all of my rambling, your smile still warmed my heart

There was a lot of things that Ran could do. Write the lyrics for Afterglow, sing her heart out on stage and even, although reluctantly, flower arrangement. Ice skating? Not so much, she thought to herself as she held onto the edge for dear life.

Back when Ako had suggested the idea to her sister after the usual Afterglow practice, she figured that she could get the hang of this. _I mean, everyone ice skates at one point in their life right?_ However, she couldn’t hold back her slight bitterness as she glanced over at just how coordinated everyone was.

Tsugumi was around the middle, being mindful of people around her while holding both Akos and Rinkos hands, guiding them slowly across the ice with a warm reassuring smile. Tomoe and Himari were…trying their best, at the very minimum despite not gaining very much momentum as they circled the rink, but it was a vast improvement over when they had first begun, tripping over each other. Yukina and Sayo had gotten pretty good at it despite their first hiccups, looking almost too graceful for Ran to keep staring. The last thing she wanted was to gain eye contact with her rival, especially in the sorry looking state she was in right now.

As Ran began to slowly make her way around the edge, she couldn’t help but feel as though she was being stared at by someone. She must’ve looked pathetic, especially after she had claimed that she wouldn’t have needed any help. Almost all of the girls had been circling the edge to begin with to first gain their balance, but as time went on they were able to let go and bravely skate across the rink. Except for Ran, of course.

\---

“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” Tsugumi questioned with a concerned look on her face, but Ran knew she was already occupied with the two Roselia girls.

“Yeah, you go ahead” She proclaimed, but now she began to regret her own decision.

\---

Unable to shake off the sensation that she was being watched, she glanced around again only to make eye contact with Moca, who was, of course, smiling as smug as ever as she spoke to Lisa from across the rink. Ran could feel her cheeks burning as she pretended not to notice. _That Moca, she probably thinks this is funny…_

She noticed that the exit was pretty close, and figured she could quickly make her escape towards the café without anyone noticing. _Why was it so difficult to skate? Surely it should have been easier._ She knew she could rely on Afterglow now, after all that they had been through…but if she couldn’t even ice skate then she would just bring everyone down. She couldn’t wait to take these tight fitting ice skates off and put all this fear behind her, she thought to herself as she reached for the exit.

Of course, it wouldn’t have been that easy. “Raaaan?~”. Busted. She could hear the light scraping of ice skates heading towards her. She quickly rubbed the sting out of her eyes and glanced over towards Moca who had made a steady halt. She couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt at Mocas warm but concerned smile, so she forced one of her own in hopes it would alleviate the situation. “Moca; What's up?” it was hard to keep eye contact.

“Nothing, nothing~ I just couldn't help but notice that Ran was trying to make an escape~” “N-no, that's not- I was…just feeling cold, so I was going to get a drink-“ Even Ran couldn’t even believe the words as they flew from her mouth, and just hoped at this point Moca would let her off.

“Cold? Raan~ you should have told me”

Before she could even feel slight relief at her understanding, Moca had already gotten Ran into a soft embrace.

“Let the genius Moca-chan warm you up~”

“I-idiot, w-what are you-“

Ran could feel her hand slipping away from the hand rail as Moca guided her back into the rink, her legs almost giving way.

“Come on, there’s no need to feel shy~” As soon as Moca lightened her grip Ran instinctively struggled, a horrible decision which led to her almost falling face first into the ice if it weren’t for Moca still having a firm grasp on her arm. Without the safety of the railing for Ran to hold onto, she reached out for anything to keep her balance, and wailed as she slipped on the ice and into Mocas arms.

“Oooo Ran~ how bold~” she could practically hear the smug expression on Mocas face, despite not actually being able to see it. She attempted to reply, only to be met with a face full of Moca’s scarf. She propped her head up, glad to feel the cold breeze on her burning cheeks as she breathed in. For a brief moment, she could’ve sworn she saw Moca’s cheeks almost as red, before she began to smile smugly at Rans pout.

“M-Moca-“

They had both slowed to a halt, and Moca gently pulled away but still firmly held Ran by the arms. Ran was still trying to catch her breath from both the embarrassment and the sudden shift in balance. Moca, on the other hand, began looking around the rink to see where the other band members were at.

It seemed as though Rinko and Ako had gotten a hold of skating, so they began to help Tomoe and Himari with their own. Ako was excitedly teaching Himari, while Rinko, although bashfully, was helping Tomoe. Sayo and Tsugumi were off to the edge in conversation as they kept an eye on the two pairs, while Lisa and Yukina were skating slowly across the rink, hands intertwined.

“This should be enough space!” Moca proclaimed proudly.

“W-what?” Ran took a quick look over their location.

“Ran” Moca lifted their arms a little, bringing Rans attention back to Mocas reassuring smile.

“I’m going to move back a little, okay? I’ll keep a good hold of you, so try to follow me~”

Ran glanced up at Moca, then down towards their skates, her legs quivering out of sheer nervousness. She nodded reluctantly and made little baby strokes on the ice. Despite Mocas earlier insistence, she was being surprisingly mellow and patient with Ran.

“L-like this?” Ran was gripping firmly on Mocas arms, occasionally tightening her grip when she felt uneasy, and Moca would squeeze a little to reassure Ran that she was safe.

“That’s it, that’s it~  Just keep coming towards Moca-chan~”

Despite the cold breeze and the puffs of air she was letting out, she felt surprisingly warm and safe.

“I-I think I’m getting the hang of this…” she breathed out.

“See, you can trust the genius that is Moca~” Ran glanced upwards for a moment, noticed a faint warm smile on Mocas lips, and the tint of a blush feathered across her cheeks.

She could hear the faint sound of her heart beating amidst all the sounds of the ice rink, and felt a mixture of nervousness and warm joy. The more she thought about it, the more she remembered seeing a similar sight of Moca, with her smile and her little button red nose. She recalled a time where Ran felt a similar kind of nervousness and happiness, a time where Moca called her over during her park walk around Christmas. A time where she exchanged a flower for a make-believe bread.

 “You know, I never really thanked you…”

“…R-Ran?”

Ran knew that sometimes she took the days she spent with Afterglow for granted. Without Afterglow, she might have never made any friends. She might have never started a band, and might have never felt the joy she felt that day.

“Everyone, was friends together…before me…but you still invited me that day, and even when we were separated by our classes you still reached out to me…” That’s right, and Ran couldn’t quite put her feelings of gratitude into words. But still, the words continued to flow right out of her mouth.

“And even now, when I tried to be independent you still reached a helping hand to me…I owe you, and Afterglow so much…so, u-uh..t-thanks.” The more she spoke, the more she began to stutter over her own words as she began to realize just how embarrassing this was. But once she finished, she glanced up at Moca with her own attempt at a warm smile, hoping to replicate what she had been shown.

However, Moca couldn’t speak. She just stared at Ran for a while, a look of surprise on her face as she processed what she just heard. In the end, she just nervously giggled at Ran, and replied with “You’re so silly, Ran~”

“S-silly? How?” Ran was confused. Had she said something wrong?

“…Don’t worry about it~” And there It was, the usual mysterious Moca had regained her composure and her smug grin.

“Huh? What, Moca, tell me-“ as Ran began to argue back, Moca slowly pulled away.

“M-Moca-“ Ran began to struggle to keep her balance as Moca began to skate slowly backwards, holding her hands to her hips triumphantly.

“If you want to know, you’ll have to catch Moca-chan~”

“Huh? B-but that’s not fair-“ Ran used all her might to not slip over, bending her knees nervously as her balance shifted from the lack of support.

“Fu fu fu~ you should have more confidence in yourself, Ran~ Remember what Moca taught you~” Despite trying to act proud, Ran could clearly see Moca was having too much fun with all this. Not wanting to be outsmarted, she slowly straightened her posture and began to skate towards Moca with a Nervous but determined grin. She was a little slow to begin with, but began to slowly pick up the pace to her own surprise.

However, despite having her arms held out to catch Moca, the moment never came. Confused, she glanced upwards to find that Moca had moved further away, her grin growing wider at her reaction.

“Moca, did you just move _further away_ -“

“You have to be faster to beat Moca-chan~” Ran could feel her eye twitch. _Oh, it’s on_ , she thought to herself. She pulled her leg back to launch herself at a faster speed, but before she knew it…

“Wait, you two! Watch out!”

Moca felt out of breath at the sudden pressure from her side, and fell onto the ice followed by the screams of Himari and Ako who had crashed into her. It took a moment for Ran to really process the situation, staring at the huddled pile of the three girls with a faint looking Moca in the midst. She slowly skated towards the pile as the two girls lifted themselves from Moca, and tried to contain her laughter as she knelt down towards Moca and helped her up.

Through her stifled chuckles, she managed to let out a “you know, _technically_ I caught you” to which earned her a little pained grin from Moca.

The sounds of approaching skates came to a halt, with numerous “what happened?!” “are you okay?!” from the various girls, but in the midst of all the chaos Moca whispered to Ran “See, sometimes I need your help too Ran~”

To which Ran replied with a warm smile, “Looks like you do.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to follow me @/lunar_pilot on twitter (/ω＼)


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